Údarás na Gaeltachta (Amendment) Bill 2024: An Tuarascáil agus an Chéim Dheiridh
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-27
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Rory Hearne (SD), Dublin North-West

I want to come back in on this. Fianna Fáil has had a history of developing housing in a very progressive way in the past. This is a time for new initiatives, a time for vision and a time for radical action on the housing crisis, nowhere more so than in the Gaeltachtaí. It is absolutely central that we listen to the organisations on the ground. Tá na heagraíochtaí Conradh na Gaeilge, Tinteán agus BÁNÚ ag lorg an róil sin don údarás. Tá ról láidir á lorg acu a thabharfadh cumhacht tithíochta don údarás. These organisations, Conradh na Gaeilge, BÁNÚ and Tinteán, are looking for Údarás na Gaeltachta to have this role to actually deliver housing. I am in complete agreement with them. We put forward this proposal in our housing plan for the Gaeltachtaí because, at the moment, it is clearly not working and I do not see how the way forward that has been set out can work.
As we said, an t-údarás has a huge amount of land and development skills. The Minister talked about skills. The question is why it cannot develop further skills. It has skills in development and can develop further skills in housing. If we are really visionary, why could it not, for example, be developing modular home factories and developing skills in the areas that would give people employment and build housing? Why do we have to limit what it can do when people are looking for this? It seems to me that there is a conservatism here, a reluctance to actually allow an t-údarás to do what it could be doing, which would actually offer the Gaeltachtaí a future in terms of developing housing themselves and having that power.
The Gaeltacht Act 2012 states that Údarás na Gaeltachta may implement initiatives in the Gaeltacht. I will come back on that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-27